Recap: Rangers Steamroll Montreal for 5th Win in a Row

The Rangers concluded their first road trip of the season with their first of three meetings with the Montreal Canadiens this year. The Rangers looked to continue their strong point and win streak to start the season as the Canadiens looked to bounce back from a nine-round shootout loss to the Islanders over the weekend. Let's break it down!

1st Period:

After a frantic push from the Canadiens on a takeaway from Lane Hutson where Jacob Trouba was forced to come up with a pair of key blocks, the Rangers struck first. A beautiful passing play between Artemiy Panarin and Adam Fox set up Mika Zibanejad who just entered the zone to rip a quick and perfect wrist shot past Montembault to make it a 1-0 game on the Rangers’ first shot on goal. 

Just 71 seconds later, Braden Schneider cleared the puck out of the zone right off a defensive zone draw for what the Canadiens thought was going to be an icing call. An excellent example of why you always have to play to the whistle as Adam Edström beat out the icing call and dished it to Jonny Brodzinski who was all alone in front and had the entire right side of the net to shoot at, 2-0 Rangers. 

Four minutes after Brodzinski’s goal, Reilly Smith took the puck away from Hutson in the neutral zone and came in all alone to send another wrist shot to the back of the net, extending his team’s lead to 3-0. 

Just 30 seconds out from the midway point of the period, the Rangers received the first power play of the night as Josh Anderson was sent off for cross-checking. Montreal did a good job of holding off the Rangers top power play unit but wouldn’t come out of it unscathed. As the second unit took the ice, Chytil carried the puck back into the zone and found Reilly Smith on the right side of the net. Smith fed Chytil right back as he went to the net to tap in the dish to convert on the power play and make it a 4-0 game. What a start in this one. 

That would put an end to Samuel Montembault’s night as former friend Marty St. Louis would pull his netminder to be replaced by Cayden Primeau. That would prove to be the spark needed to stop the bleeding as Nick Suzuki would tuck in a pass from Josh Anderson behind the Rangers net that may have deflected off Ryan Lindgren in front. 4-1 hockey game. 

With just under six minutes to go in the period, Kaapo Kakko found himself in an intense battle for both the puck and space on the ice with Jake Evans. This started in the corner and ended in front of the Canadiens net that earned the two coincidental roughing penalties. Say what you want about Kakko but you can’t say he isn’t giving it his all out there. 

This kicked off two minutes of 4-v-4 hockey which resulted in a Grade-A scoring chance for Zibanejad on a nice deke around a defender and a chance for Montreal the other way as Suzuki ripped a shot off the post. Offense continued to cook on both sides as Trouba had the puck stripped from him for another Montreal chance that eventually turned into a partial breakaway for Filip Chytil the other way. 

Truly an action-packed, wild opening period as the Rangers blew the doors off of Montreal with four unanswered goals before Montreal finally cracked the goose egg. Both teams had 23 shot attempts with the Rangers officially out-shooting Montreal 14-12. Face-offs were split evenly, the Rangers were 100% on the power play but the stat that jumps out the most was the 8-4 Rangers in high danger scoring with them leading 1.54-0.9 in expected goals for. Another noteworthy night for the record books:

2nd Period:

The Rangers continued to truly dominate Montreal in the offensive zone to start the period. As Joe Michelleti pointed out on the broadcast, the Canadiens just did not have an answer for defending the Blueshirts at their best. Alas, Montreal would follow it up with a lengthy shift in the Rangers zone as a result of a K’Andre Miller giveaway on a half-hearted attempt to clear the puck out of his own zone. 

While that isn’t anything to write home about in a 4-1 game just a few weeks into the season, it is something that was a massive issue against good teams like Florida in the playoffs last year. Something for the video coaches to take note of as these are little habits that need to be broken long before the postseason comes around again. 

Five minutes into the second, the Rangers took their first penalty of the night as Adam Fox was called for hooking Brendan Gallagher in front of the Rangers net. A great opportunity for the Canadiens to get back on track and sure enough, Nick Suzuki would bring them within two. It almost appeared as if the Rangers were counting on Suzuki to pass the puck which left him all the time and space to walk into the slot and move to the backhand past Shesterkin. 4-2 game. 

It wouldn’t be too long before the Rangers put their foot back on the gas. A fantastic play by Filip Chytil held the puck on the half wall to feed Braden Schneider with a perfect pass across the zone. The shot from Schenider beat Primeau through some traffic to find nothing but net, 5-2 Rangers. 

With three minutes to go, Mike Matheson was sent off for roughing which seemed to agitate Lafrenière more than it should’ve. A bit concerning as he hasn’t been practicing as he’s nursing an upper-body injury. The Rangers would close out the period with the power play but wouldn’t convert as they kept the 5-2 lead heading into the final intermission. 

3rd Period:

The Rangers were in the driver’s seat in a great position to close out the period with the well-established lead. Four minutes into the final period of regulation, Miller was called for hooking to send Montreal back to the power play. A great kill by the Rangers who spent plenty of time in the offensive zone despite the disadvantage. As the power play came to an end, Brendan Gallagher took some frustrations out on Trouba as he initiated an intense shoving match that escalated into a larger gathering. 

This brought the teams back to 4-v-4 for two minutes as Gallagher got the initial call and Chris Kreider got the matching one for jumping in to defend Trouba. About halfway through, Trouba laid a massive hit on Justin Barron which resulted in him being challenged by Matheson for a proper fight. 

Matheson, being the third man in, collected 17 minutes worth of penalty time which gave the Rangers a 4-on-3 power play that would soon turn to a usual 5-on-4 advantage. Montreal fought off the advantage and began playing with some fire as they were much more physical in the shifts that followed. Each hit seemingly gathering more and more applause from the home crowd. 

With six and a half to go, Will Cuylle was called for slashing Cole Caufield giving Montreal another crack at the power play. The Rangers would have the best scoring chance in those two minutes as Trocheck and Smith found themselves on an odd-man rush that Primeau was forced to shut down. The Canadiens had a chance going the other way with it as Joel Armia hit the crossbar but the puck would find its way back to Montreal’s end of the ice and Filip Chytil would pick up his second of the night off a scrum in front of Primeau, 6-2 Rangers. 

With goals coming as frequently as they were tonight, it was the perfect night for a guy like Kaapo Kakko to finally get on the board. On the very next shift after the Chytil goal, Kakko entered the zone on the right wing side of the ice and snuck a shot through Primeau to make it 7-2. A quiet three point night from the former second overall pick. 

Quite the dominant night for this Rangers team who out-shot Montreal by a total of 45-23. On top of all of that, they hit the post six times. A big win to wrap up an undefeated road trip to build on their impressive start to the season now 5-0-1. The Rangers are back at it Thursday Night as they’ll return home to host the team that ended their season and went on to win the Cup last year, the Florida Panthers.